Clothing Donation Bins

Members of NACRO believe that a prominently located recycling collection bin is currently the most effective method of collecting clothing donations for distribution to those in need and resale through their op shops to raise funds for their community programs.

NACRO members have adopted a Code of Practice to ensure that donation bins remain a convenient service for residents to donate to their charity of choice and in turn keep recyclable items from landfill.

In August 2013, NACRO wrote to all local governments across Australia asking them to review and adopt a policy that supports clothing donation bins operated by NACRO members on council managed land.

Resources for councils, including a brochure outlining the issues, the Code of Practice and sample policies adopted by councils are provided at this link.

National Waste Policy

National Waste Report 2013

In 2013, NACRO was approached by the National Waste Reporting Team within the federal Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. The team has responsibility for preparing the National Waste Report for 2013. An update of the National Waste Report 2010, the team wanted to include a section on Charitable Recycling.

NACRO’s submission provides a comprehensive overview of the sector, our role in the community and some of the issues that we have to contend with, including illegal dumping and commercial clothing collectors.

Victorian Landfill Levy Relief Program 3

Illegal dumping is a persistent problem in Victoria, imposing significant costs on those affected. In recent years, charitable organisations have experienced increasing waste management costs as the result of illegal dumping at charitable recycling sites across the state.

The Victorian Government is providing financial relief, via the National Association of Charitable Recycling Organisations (NACRO), to charities impacted by illegal dumping, to both reduce dumping and assist charities with waste management costs.

The Victorian government approved a landfill levy relief program–3. It is available to legitimate Victorian Charitable Recyclers and will run from 1st July 2015 until 30th June 2018.

How to lodge a claim

Click here for more information on how to lodge a claim and to download the claim forms for the 2015-18 program.

Sources of Textile Waste in Australia

The Technical Textiles & Nonwoven Association has produced a discussion paper on “Sources of Textile Waste in Australia” that outlines the issues, questions and scope of the problems of textile waste, while providing insight into the potential economic and environmental benefits that re-use of textile waste as a resource may offer.

The report concludes that the business of regenerating pre-consumer and post-consumer waste in Australia is promising, with the potential to found a new industry and green jobs whilst simultaneously mitigating landfill and providing green inputs to external industries such as the automotive industry.

Sustainability

The multi-billion dollar worldwide recycling industry performs a vital social and environmental function. The industry has no peer in terms of conserving the world’s resources while the various stages of the recycling process provide significant employment around the world.

Charitable recycling of post-consumer waste (mainly used clothing and household goods) is one of the oldest recycling industries in Australia. By world standards, it is a unique system through which tonnes of post consumer waste is diverted from landfill and redistributed to men, women and children overwhelmed by life’s hardships, or sold to assist in the charitable works of the organsations who have invested in the recycling infrastructure. It is a valuable service to all Australians.

There is increasing recognition by informed councils of the contribution charity shops make in reducing the volume of items that go to landfill, and a number of local authorities are now counting the volume of second-hand goods sent for reuse and recycling that can be measured towards their recycling targets. Without charity shops and processing facilities providing for large-scale reuse and recycling, these unwanted items would inevitably find their way into the waste stream to be treated by local authorities as household waste.

It is estimated that between 80-100 million kilos of textile waste is collected by Australian charitable recyclers through clothing recycling collection bins and donations of material at no cost to councils or government. Much of this material can be reclaimed and recirculated through charity shops or reprocessed into functional textiles. Through the efforts of the charitable recycling organisations, approximately 75 percent of the collected post-consumer waste is diverted from our landfills and recycled domestically or forwarded to third world countries providing clothing to many of the poorest people in the World.

Recycling is a practice through which everyone can make a difference to the environment. The journey of a piece of clothing does not always end at the landfill. Garments or household goods can effectively be recycled by sale or gifted to another user. Of the post consumer waste recovered by charities;

60 percent consists of items of clothing that can be reworn or reused

15 percent can be torn into industrial wiper cloths, and

25 percent is unusable and sent to landfill.

Recycling of second hand goods is by means of community donations deposited into charity clothing recycling collection bins, thousands of which are located across Australia, and/or drop-offs directly to charity shops.